The present invention relates to searching a network for information. In particular, the present invention relates to search tools used in computer searching.
Computer networks connect large numbers of computers together so they may share data and applications. Examples include Intranets that connect computers within a business or institution and the Internet, which connects computers throughout the world.
A single computer can be connected to both an Intranet and the Internet. In such a configuration, the computer can use data and applications found on any of its own storage media such as its hard disc drive, its optical drive, or its tape drive. It can also use data and applications located on another computer connected to the Intranet or Internet. Given the large number of locations from which a computer can extract data and the increasing amount of storage capacity at each of these locations, users have found it increasingly difficult to isolate the information they desire.
In recent years, users have begun to use search engines to help them search the Internet. Typically, search engines accept a search query from the user and then look for the search query""s terms in an indexed list of terms. The indexed list is generated by parsing text found on individual Internet pages and indexing the text by the page""s Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
Since it is impossible to index every page on the Internet, each search engine selects a set of pages to index. Since each search engine is created by a different group of people, different search engines index different sets of pages. In fact, some search engines have become extremely specialized and only index pages related to a specific category of information such as sports or celebrities.
In addition, different search engines search through their index in different ways and are optimized using different query structures. Some search engines are optimized to accept free-text queries. Others are optimized to accept queries with logical operators such as xe2x80x9cANDxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cORxe2x80x9d.
The differences between various search engines are largely unknown by average computer users. Therefore, they are not able to determine which search engine would best suit their searching goals. In addition, many of the specialized search engines that index specific categories of pages are unknown to average computer users. Therefore, users are not fully utilizing the variety of search engines available on the Internet.
Currently, there are no tools available to help computer users identify which search engines they should be using to optimize their search.
A method of aiding a user in searching a computer environment includes retrieving a search query from a user, accessing a user profile and selecting a search area based on the search query and the user profile.
In other embodiments of the present invention, a method provides for receiving a search query, categorizing at least one term in the search query based on an indexed list of terms derived from pages on a network, and identifying at least one search area based at least in part on the category of a search term. In still further embodiments, the search area is selected based on a combination of the user profile and the category of the search term.
Other aspects of the present invention include identifying the scope of a search based on a search query retrieved from a user and using the scope to identify a search area. The scope relates to the level of detail that the user wants the returned documents to provide. The scope is identified in a number of different ways. In one embodiment, the scope is identified based on the number of words in the search query. In other embodiments, the scope is determined by comparing the search query against a user profile. In still other embodiments, the number of terms and the user profile are combined to identify the search scope.
An embodiment of the present invention also provides a method that categorizes search tools based on their ability to search using search queries of selected formats. The method then sends a search query to a search tool based on the search query""s format and the category of the search tool.